


standing ovation (for whom? from which crowd?)

by foxmulder_whereartthou



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Blood, Canonical Character Death, Duelling, Gen, Gun Violence, Gunshot Wounds, Murder, also !! i dont know anything about another day or a new day please dont come for me, ask to tag!! stay safe i love u all, but mm. not That Bad i dont think, murder. he's committing murder, oop. joshua has a gun what crimes will he commit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25639687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxmulder_whereartthou/pseuds/foxmulder_whereartthou
Summary: Neku finds himself distracted during the duel, thinking back to the first time this happened.And yeah, back then he didn't have a gun in his hands too, he didn't know anything about the RG or the UG, but maybe it was better back then.Or worse. It was hard to pick a side when the subject matter was your own death.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	standing ovation (for whom? from which crowd?)

When Joshua levels the revolver at him, the sickly taste of déjà vu at the back of his throat only worsens, and tears blur his vision - Neku’s sure that, even if he was completely okay with shooting Joshua, fine with participating in such a game as this, he could never win. Choking back a sob, Neku sets his brow, his hand shaking uncontrollably, and lifts his gun too. 

Unlike Joshua, who seems built to handle a firearm, secure and smirking as his gaze drifts down the barrel of the gun, meeting Neku halfway with a sly flicker of a glance as he continues to count down to their inevitable fate, it seems as though Neku himself was never meant to. His fingers warp unnaturally around the handle, and he’s far too unsteady to point it accurately at Joshua - due to fear, exhaustion, general inexperience, or otherwise. 

And despite everything - despite the small hiccups forcing their way out of Neku’s mouth, leaving him fighting for breath, despite the way they both can distantly hear the disembodied shouts and screams of Shiki and Beat, seemingly discorporated in this stifling, liminal space in which the two of them exist - Joshua is still counting down to destruction, every syllable echoing off of the invisible, imperceivable walls surrounding them. 

Once the count reaches zero, and Neku’s aim lowers meaningfully this time, with purpose and stupid, emotion-driven direction, and the shot fires, tearing it’s way through Neku’s chest (and what feels like his heart, shattering it in two), it’s like that time all those weeks ago.

Laughably, the _first_ time he’d died. 

* * *

CAT's mural had always been a place of solace to Neku, a place far away from anyone who could bother him, but still a place that he could feel understood. Represented both in paint and flesh, Neku bridges the gap with his fingertips and traces the deft lines of paint, remnants of skill in an artist's wrist. 

Everything falls away, and he is enveloped by the colours and the hues and the shapes until his peace and quiet is harshly ripped away by a boy with a revolver clutched in his fist barrelling around the corner. 

In the boy's face, Neku sees a thousand others; it seems as though this boy - this scruffy-haired, plain-looking, gun-wielding boy - holds every face Neku has ever seen, every soul in Shibuya within his own. It's frightening, but the deafening bang of the gun going off is even more so, knocking him to the floor. 

When Neku turns, there’s another man, dressed like some kind of modern pirate, and he doesn't even look fazed by the bullet wound in his shoulder, seemingly grasping at it only to stop the flow of blood. However, when the man turns tail and runs, like Neku should've, a sudden wave of relief and dread washes over him, still helpless on the pavement. 

Terrified, Neku turns to face the boy again slowly, only to be greeted by a mocking grin and a bullet hitting him so hard in the chest it physically knocks him back, leaving him skidding across the asphalt. 

Neku does not die quickly. This is a part of his memory he is not happy to regain.

Instead, he lies there, choking and sputtering on his own blood, sobbing - crying out for any passerby, any idle schoolkid or another admirer of CAT's work. But no-one comes. 

No-one comes and Neku dies alone, his blood pooling across the floor until it reaches the mural, and he stares at how the different shades of red interact and eventually phase into each other until everything fades into painful, scary nothingness.

* * *

And when he wakes, in Scramble Crossing all over again, back to where he started, but only now with the knowledge of a seasoned player and the memories of what came before, he doesn’t stay quiet. He screams because if anything, he deserves at least this. 

The taste of the back of his throat is sour, and so, so bitter and afraid, but at least he’ll have one more week - one more week to imagine what freedom will taste like in comparison.

**Author's Note:**

> wrote the first half of this immediately after i finished the game for the first time,,, scribbled the rest out today while watching a trauma team playthrough and trying to get my groove back!! 
> 
> my first fic in the fandom, hope i did these characters justice and you enjoyed !! thanks for reading :)!!!  
> lov u all <333


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